The New Stuff

One in Five Americans Don’t Go Online

A surprising new study conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life project has shown that one out of five Americans do not use the internet. Yes, apparently there really are still people who have resisted the lure of the internet.

According to the study, among those who do not use the internet, about half said their reason for not going online is the lack of anything useful to do while using the internet. The study also revealed that the most common group that do not have internet access are those households that earn less than $30,000 a year. Other groups included are adults who do not have high school diplomas, senior citizens who are aged 65 and above and Hispanic adults. Gender was also a factor seen in the study, with women more likely not to use the internet than men.

The study results showed that the most common reason given for not going online is “just not interested.” Other popular reasons include lack of access to a computer, cost, difficulty in making the internet connection work, not enough time to learn the skills needed to go online, and concern about safety on the internet – basically about online identity theft, viruses and spam. But more interesting is the finding that among the group that do not go online, only ten percent said that they are interested in studying and learning skills so they can go online.